A large part of Carlo Zanni reserach has been focused on contemporary art market questioning whether it is possible, in the age of the cloud and crypto currencies, to update the way to buy sell and give value to the works of art. The work created on the occasion of the exhibition at Link Cabinet is the second installment of a trilogy about the crypto coin ZANNI (Ẓ), named after the artist (coin.zanni.org).Boil the ocean. Cook the books. Eat your own dog food is an automatic chat where the owners/collectors of the ZANNI (Ẓ) comment on their shares, making jokes and ranting against each other like rats. The names of the rats, the % they own and other info are gathered in real time from Ethereum, the blockchain that runs the smart contract powering the coin. The title, forged out of some financial slang that makes use of the culinary metaphor, is an homage to the Herzog’s Conquest of the Useless, and to the words of Fitzcarraldo that appear, edited, in the dialogues. The title is also a reference to the art making, a concept that Zanni extend to include the wasting money activity by those visionary collectors who get involved in utopian and apparently meaningless projects.

Since the early 2000’s Carlo Zanni’s practice has explored the use of Internet data to create time-based works that combine a pronounced social consciousness and a focus on identity and the self. He researches alternative selling models for digital art and he is the author of the book “Art in the Age of the Cloud”. In many ways Carlo Zanni’s research finds its roots in Sol Lewitt’s statement, “The idea becomes a machine that makes the art”, updated to a more contemporary version: “The idea becomes the code that renders the art.” Zanni (born in La Spezia Italy, 1975) has been the recipient of a Rhizome.org commission and he has shown in galleries and museums worldwide including: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan; Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Marsèlleria, Milan; Tent, Rotterdam; MAXXI, Rome; P.S.1, New York; Borusan Center, Istanbul; PERFORMA 09, NY and ICA, London.